tongues wag

1. People are gossiping. For example, Tongues wagged when another police car was parked in front of their house, or Their arrival in a stretch limousine set the neighbors' tongues wagging. This metaphoric expression transfers the rapid movement of the tongue to idle or indiscreet chatter. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Then, issue a press guidance that he will be making an announcement on Tuesday and watch the tongues wag.

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Though there are many, many reasons she might have avoided marriage, her staunch refusal made tongues wag, even centuries later.

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When she marries black doctor Leviticus Sprague, tongues wag — but she’ll give them much, much more to talk about.

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Her high-profile friendships with pop stars Rihanna and Rita Ora inspire fanfiction and generate headlines, and she made tongues wag when it was first reported that she was seeing current girlfriend Annie Clark, the musician better known as St. Vincent.

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It was for other distracting reasons that the selection made tongues wag — at least among those who spend their Sunday evenings watching CBS’s “The Good Wife.”

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